The family of convicted sex offender Adam Johnson paid up to £170,000 to an alleged fraudster who claimed he could uncover evidence clearing the former Premier League star of child sex charges.
Former England footballer Johnson has just started a six year sentence for grooming and having sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan.
The 28-year-old was described as a sex addict during the trial, which also revealed that police recovered animal porn and web searches for 'nice young teens' at his home.
It has now been claimed that his family made a string of payments to Mark Hill-Wood, CEO of intelligence company FullProof, who said he could find crucial evidence in Johnson's favour.
Within weeks of Johnson's arrest, the sportsman's parents started paying up to £36,000 at a time to Hill-Wood, who claims to have worked for MI6, the Daily Mail reports.
By the end of May, more than £140,000 had been handed over before the family realised Mr Hill-Wood would fall short of his promises, it is claimed.
Mr Hill-Wood, 51, has targeted a string of high-profile figures, including sports stars and Michelle Young, the ex-wife of bankrupt tycoon Scot Young, according to the Daily Mail.
He is under investigation by Surrey Police for 'fraud offences' alleged to have taken place in October 2014.
Johnson, who earned £60,000 a week with Sunderland, was convicted of one offence of sexual activity with a child but cleared of another following a two week trial at Bradford Crown Court.
He had already admitted grooming the 15-year-old schoolgirl and kissing her in a sexual manner.
Johnson had used social media to groom the girl after she contacted him on Facebook on New Year's Eve 2014.
The charges against Johnson arose from a meeting between him and the girl in his car in County Durham on January 30 last year.
He groomed the girl by giving her gifts of signed football shirts and sent her explicit messages.
The former England international, was sacked by Sunderland last month following his guilty pleas.
Surrey Police confirmed they are investigating Mr Hill-Wood. The force was first made aware of fraud claims against him in October 2014, but since then, more victims have come forward, a spokeswoman told the Telegraph.
A person answering the telephone at FullProof said Mr Hill-Wood was out of the country and out of reach until the end of next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment